Monday, January 19, 2009

My Grandson's Favorite Book

My little 2 year old grandson chose one of the most unlikely books as his favorite. I don't remember the title but it's about Teddy Ruxpin and Grubby picking strawberries. Then the little furry fobs come along complaining about losing their color and one of the other characters, (I don't remember his name, although I should after reading it so many times) saves the day by removing the big rock from Rainbow Falls and restoring the waterfall that also restores the colors to the fobs.

To me it had several faults:
1) The names were ridiculous sounding and very hard to pronounce.
2) The writing style was horrendous with absolutely nothing to make the storyline flow.
3) The story itself wasn't fun and to my mind, not even a bit interesting.

But my grandson asks me to read it to him over and over. When he was a little younger he would grab the page like he was grabbing the strawberries and pop them in his mouth saying, "Yum, yum." Now he won't touch a strawberry with a ten foot pole. Nothing to do with the book, I'm sure.

The writer in me totally rebels at such a poorly written book. And the English major in me doubly rebels. What could be the fascination in such a book? Anyone have any ideas?

9 comments:

  1. Never read it, but I understand your pain! Don't you hate it when you read something that is terrible, and yet some major publishing company put a ton of money behind it and it's selling? Just like the music industry, we are spoon-fed these bland, sub-par pieces of work...

    L. Diane Wolfe
    www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
    www.spunkonastick.net
    www.thecircleoffriends.net

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kids love the craziest things. They love bugs and dirt and books about slugs. They love happily ever after stories and wearing mom's high heels.

    And yet they grow up to be doctors and auto mechanics and writers and presidents.

    And they grow up and forget what was in their heads as wee children. We forget why the book about the dump truck or the one about picking strawberries fascinated us. And that's probably a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's probably the bright and happy colors, easily identifiable characters, and the fact that it correlates to a favorite toy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't know what the fascination would be. When my kids were little, my eldest had a love affair with a book called, "The Cat's Pajamas." I read that thing until it was well-worn and full of crayon marks.

    To this day, I have hated that book, but when I brought it out the other day (in a stack of other books), my eldest grabbed it, held it to her bossom, and said, "I loved that book!"

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've had the same thoughts about some of my grandson's book choices. But, I guess the most important thing at that age is not the story but instilling the love for books and reading.

    Jane Kennedy Sutton
    Author of The Ride
    http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great comments from you fellow bloggers! I really appreciate your time to put in your 2 cents worth.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Wednesday morning, Sharon. I've passed on the Butterfly Award to you and Grandma is a Writer. I hope you enjoy it and will pass it on to other cool blogs.

    Helen Ginger

    http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sharon - this is a reply to your comment over on Katie Hines' blog - hope it helps - I'll read your blog and make some comments in a bit - I need to get working - lol - E :)


    Sharon, to address your question about the CPSIA of 2008, there are several places you can go. My publisher, Vivian, has a good many postings and links about who to contact and other places to find out more (http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com/). There are many other places to find out about this act but we are trying to get everyone to call their representatives in Washington and have them repeal this act before February 10 since it will affect people a lot deeper than originally intended.

    The gist of what the intentions were to do is basically to protect the children in the age group of 12 and under from lead-tainted items sent from China. The recall a couple of years ago caused the lawmakers to act quickly. While they knew they needed to target the toymakers, they decided that every product for children ages 12 and under, no matter what they were made of and if they had any paints or coatings (phthalate based) or inks or dyes needed to be tested to be proven they were lead-free and phthalate-free. The tests can only be done by approved labs and there are only a limited number of labs available for testing. So add that with the amount of products that will need to be tested and you have run into a domino effect - because there are only a handful of labs, they will be innudated with items to be tested and the waiting list will be so long and the cost prohibitive to the small and mid sized businesses that in turn people will start closing their doors and those companies who can afford the testing will put the cost back on the consumer so that no matter what you buy - your cost will be so high that you can't afford to buy anything and thereby, we will be back in the stone ages.

    This act includes books, toys, clothing, scouting patches and camping gear, bicycles and associated products, toys, clothing, jewelry and anything that is made for the children's market. The thing is that there is already no lead or very minute levels in books, yet books still have to be tested and certified that they are lead free. Even if the printers do the testing (taking the burden off the publisher somewhat), the cost of books will likely be so high that no one will be able to buy a paperback. The libraries, schools and other places that house books for children under the age of 13, will have to ban kids from coming in or burn books and the children's market will disappear. So we are urging everyone to contact their representatives and make them aware that this law, although had good intentions to protect the kids, only hurts them deeper than they imagined. There are lots of places online you can check for more about CPSIA of 2008 and I would encourage you as a grandmother to search and act, please. Get your friends and family and online acquaintances involved - call every day until they repeal the act. E :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hahahaaa - omigosh - the conundrum of having a crappy written book being the FAVORITE of a Grandchild and asking you to read it over & over. You must be a GOOD Grandma! LOL

    No advice here. Nu -uh - you're on your own.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.